The massive Susanoo forcefully pried open the Wood Dragon's jaws before crashing uncontrollably to the ground, flattening a large swath of trees in the process.
Ryun's half-body Susanoo was an unusual black color. The continuously rising black flames resembled some kind of infernal blaze from hell, giving off an incredibly domineering and oppressive aura.
This black-armored Susanoo was like a dark demon god, inspiring awe and fear in all who saw it.
At that moment, blood continuously streamed from Ryun's right eye. Activating the Susanoo with a single eye placed an immense strain on it, and his body also reacted with severe pain.
'Activating the Susanoo with just one eye is indeed too much of a burden...' Ryun thought, clutching his Mangekyō right eye, his face contorted in pain.
Nevertheless, he had still succeeded in manifesting it.
Moreover, along with the Susanoo's appearance, a giant sword radiating a dazzling white light coalesced in its grasp.
This was the one and only divine weapon his Susanoo possessed—the Ame-no-Murakumo Sword!
Seeing the Susanoo had fully formed, Uchiha Madara immediately manipulated the Wood Dragon to pounce fiercely at it.
The Wood Dragon reacted with extreme speed, but Ryun's Susanoo was equally swift. The lunging dragon was struck squarely by the Susanoo's fist. When it tried to coil its tail around the Susanoo, the white Ame-no-Murakumo Sword swept down, cleanly slicing the entire Wood Dragon in two with a single blow.
The terrifying sword light cut across the sea of trees, carving out a deep and horrifying chasm.
"Dammit..."
"That sword... is it the divine Kusanagi Sword...?"
Watching the Wood Dragon be cleanly bisected by the Susanoo's divine weapon, Uchiha Madara couldn't help but feel troubled.
His aged body wasn't suited for prolonged combat. Maintaining the Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees and the Wood Dragon Technique had already left him panting and exhausted.
As for techniques like the Complete Body — Susanoo, Flower Tree World Emergence, or Wood Human Technique, which could counter a Mature Body Susanoo, his current condition prevented him from using any of them.
He still needed to rely on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path every day to supply life-sustaining nutrients, just to keep himself alive a little longer. He truly lacked the capacity to maintain such high-intensity fighting.
'Fine... There's no point in continuing this fight. The objective is more or less achieved anyway...'
Uchiha Madara conceived the thought of retreat. In his eyes, although the plan had encountered an unexpected turn, leading to his exposure before Uchiha Ryun—even to the point where Ryun now knew he was the one who orchestrated the tragedy—these were not major problems for Uchiha Madara.
As long as Uchiha Ryun was completely severed from Konoha, as long as Uchiha Ryun was corrupted, it could be considered a success. His own exposure? He could simply find someone else to contact Uchiha Ryun later, couldn't he?
Although Uchiha Madara didn't know how Ryun had seen through his scheme, he never considered his plan a failure, because Ryun's eye awakening was proof.
Without harboring hatred and despair for this world, how could one awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan? As long as Ryun despised this world, Madara could still approach him later about creating the world of Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Furthermore, Ryun's left eye was indeed blinded. That point alone meant he would never forgive Konoha.
'Miscalculated... I didn't expect this guy to detect the Spore White Zetsu through Sage Mode perception, and even trace them back to me...'
Uchiha Madara inwardly sighed in regret. Many of his subsequent plans were rendered obsolete because of this single oversight.
Shaking his throbbing head, Madara stopped dwelling on it. Chakra flowed once more into the ground beneath his feet. The tree sea of the Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees seemed to come alive again, with countless trees lunging directly at Ryun.
Faced with the sky-obscuring sea of trees, the Mature Body Susanoo held the Ame-no-Murakumo Sword across its chest. Senjutsu chakra from Ryun's body madly poured into the divine weapon.
The legendary sword immediately began to radiate a brilliant light, and ethereal, faint mist-like clouds seemed to form around its blade!
As the tree sea closed in, the Mature Body Susanoo swung its sword in a wide horizontal arc! A dazzling sword light instantly swept across the entire lush forest!
All the wildly growing trees abruptly halted, then were cleanly severed, split into two!
The cuts made by the Ame-no-Murakumo Sword were almost perfectly smooth and level, a testament to the razor-sharpness of the sword light!
Boom! Rumble! Rumble!!!
The severed tree sea crashed down onto the ground, kicking up thick clouds of dust. The surrounding area was left in complete disarray.
Ignoring the blizzard of wood chips and dust, Ryun charged straight towards Uchiha Madara within his Susanoo, simultaneously unleashing his perception.
Within his powerful natural sensing ability, Uchiha Madara and the Aloe White Zetsu suddenly burrowed underground together.
'DAMN IT!!!'
Realizing their intent to escape, Ryun immediately dismissed the slow-moving Susanoo and gave chase in the direction they had fled.
Unfortunately, he had never learned any Earth Release techniques and couldn't travel underground. Even if he had mastered earth maneuvering, it was unlikely he could catch up to the White Zetsu within the earth.
With those two determined to flee, Ryun truly had no way to stop them!
His own condition was actually still quite good. The power of Sage Mode wasn't exhausted yet, and the ocular power in his right eye was still ample. If Madara hadn't run, Ryun had the ability to kill him.
It was precisely because Uchiha Madara recognized this, understanding that continuing the fight would likely end in defeat against Ryun, that he so decisively chose to withdraw.
"Uchiha Madara, you can run for a while, but you can't run forever! Not only will I find you, but I will tear apart every single scheme you have in the ninja world!"
Staring at the spot where Uchiha Madara had disappeared underground, Ryun spoke through gritted teeth, his voice a low growl.
Glancing at the Konoha ninja hiding in the shadows, Ryun's body flickered with lightning before he vanished from the spot.
"He noticed us... but didn't try to kill us..." a Hyuga jonin said, cold sweat dripping down his face.
"That was terrifying... Was that Lord Ryun's true power? I originally thought he had already gone all out back in Konoha, that he had to flee because he was outmatched... I never imagined..."
A sensory-type ninja from the Yamanaka clan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Who did you think he was? A major figure on the battlefield in the Land of Rain, someone even 'Half-God' Hanzo was no match for. How could someone like that simply flee in panic? Even if he wanted to escape, he wouldn't bother putting on an act..." an Anbu captain said, his tone exasperated.
"That old man fighting him... could he be the legendary 'Ghost of the Uchiha'—Uchiha Madara?" the Hyuga jonin asked, his expression grave.
"The old man had a Three Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes. Judging by what Uchiha Ryun implied earlier when interrogating that white creature, it's highly probable that man was Uchiha Madara. But why could he use Wood Release jutsu? That was the exclusive ability of the late First Hokage..."
This statement caused the other two to fall silent. They couldn't understand it either.
"This intelligence is too important. Now that Lord Ryun has left, we should report what we know back to Konoha first."
As soon as the words were spoken, the three of them vanished from the spot.
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